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It’s super lovely that Berlin has a lab which does these kind of user tested innovations on city processes. The work that needs to be done is written up here and it’s relatively straight-forward (there are just no short-cuts).

One state, BW, in Germany took the opportunity with the reform of the property taxes to implement something like a Land Value Tax (at a very moderate 1.3‰ rate) and it is doing exactly what it should be doing.

The next bit of insanity has to do with the German Datenschutz nutters. This is a small but virulent group of people who have blown up privacy issues to the point where most of Germany is still afraid to use the internet.

Important prototyping work to show how German government forms can be much better and much friendlier than what’s out there right now.

https://sozialtheoristen.de/2023/02/05/ungleichheit-und-systemtheorie-die-blinden-flecken-in-luhmanns-theorie-der-gesellschaft/

For my notes, a bunch of receipts about just one of the dark pasts of the German Green Party.

Always nice to have the company you work for be covered by the local newspaper.

The past couple of weeks I had a bit of a weird feeling because there weren’t any new episodes from Piratensender Powerplay. Then I found out Friedemann is out sick but also that they have a Patreon with extra episodes.

Love to see these updates from the German Digital Service. Not sure everybody knows that that organization exists now and what they’re busy with.

I get a bit of a chuckle thinking about the amount of C++ programmer hours that are being wasted here on this next generation car software. I’d love to learn about details when it comes to this.

There is a lot of truth to this Economist article about German humour and I refer back to it a lot.

Looking at this map of expansions we may have a tram line in front of our house in the near future.

“dass deutsche Behörden und bürokratische Prozesse mitverantwortlich sind am Scheitern des Start-ups.”

A fun profile on Annalena Bärbock (initials ACAB) the leader of the Greens who could become Germany’s next chancellor.

I see lots of people still struggle with the German adjectives and especially the fact that there are three tables, one for each of definite articles, indefinite articles and when there’s no article, for 48 separate inflections.

Another big volley towards more tenants’ rights in Berlin that if won will provoke a vast shift in thinking around housing politics both locally and globally.

I welcome all of these Quotenfrauen and many more like them. We are all missing out with the way businesses are run currently.

Drastically lowering the voting age as Germany is considering here would solve a huge amount of problems (which is why it will of course not happen).

A funny German interview with Ben Hammersley on the surface about laziness and productivity but what is a much more current strand to pull on is the ability to systematize large parts of our quotidian life and work.

“Viele Unternehmen sehen zu viele theoretische Risiken statt einfach zu vertrauen, dass Menschen grundsätzlich mit Freiheiten verantwortungsvoll umgehen.”

“Ist es extrem, leben zu wollen? Ist der Wunsch extrem, deinem Kind nicht dabei zusehen zu müssen, wie es von Polizisten erschossen wird? Oder, nicht mehr jeden Cent zweimal umdrehen zu müssen? Nein. Die Ansicht, dass das extrem sei, ist extrem. Und zwar extrem menschenfeindlich.”

Not every day I find a great blog with interviews about leadership, and even rarer to find one that is this good and in German.

It’s common for angry people to be dismissed but it is also a fully wrong and unjust attitude.

“Wie kann es sein, dass die aufwändig erarbeiteten und austarierten Betreuungs- und Versorgungsnetze aus Kita, Schule, Hort, Babysitter*in, Großeltern, Tagesmutter-/vater und weiteren Mitbetreuenden, von Verpflegung in Einrichtungen und haushaltsnahen Dienstleistungen von heute auf morgen von behördlicher Seite gestrichen werden, ohne dass gleichzeitig Aussichten auf Kompensations- und Unterstützungsangebote gemacht werden?”

A short and clear argument for a degrowth economic model based on the British wartime effort: rationing and government control of production goals.

Nice to find some more socially conscious and also quality rap in Germany.

A Turkish guy in a van turns the corner tight enough to almost run us over. He then stops and pulls down the window: “Möchtest du mir etwas sagen?”

Wir üben keinen Druck auf unsere Mieter aus. Kein Mieter wird bei uns verdrängt. Das würde gegen unsere Werte verstoßen.

Berlin is finally thinking of fixing its totally and utterly broken website. That’s good news but a shame that we have had to use this monstrosity for the past ten years.

We were represented at PM Camp last week and here’s a blog post (in German) by Alicia, one of my team members about the way we work.

Berlin is instituting a rent cap which honestly is the only way the city will remain liveable for the majority of its inhabitants.

Whenever our kids are dismayed by somebody else, they come to us and say that there was either a human (ein Mensch!) or a kid (ein Kind!). No genders, no nothing.

Just like almost every public service in Berlin the pediatrician situation is absolute squalor. It’s impossible to find one who picks up the phone or takes on new patients 1.

I was arguing against Systems Theory today (a necessary evil when you live in Germany) which prompted the thought of searching for the conjunction of Bruno Latour and Niklas Luhmann. That led me to this gem.

From a thread about whether it is possible or not to live in Berlin without a car (gasp!). This is what a normal odd day of mine looks like.

Set aside all of the obvious outcry, I haven’t seen a single argument yet that explains how encrypted communications are compatible with state power.

A collective of the largest German YouTubers have just before the European elections launched a campaign against the CDU and it’s a joy to see.

Usually it’s not for a good reason but still, it’s nice to see my grand-boss Dror on television regularly explaining cybersecurity to the German public.

If Berlin votes to expropriate Deutsche Wohnen, it will be a welcome step towards decommodification of housing. Not to mention the long overdue correction that it will give the local housing market.

I was supposed to see this play six years ago. Let’s say better late than never. Seen Wednesday, March 20th at the Maxim Gorki Theater.

Nice to see a talk by my colleague Alicia and grand-boss Dror featured in the local IT news.

I didn’t think I’d live to hear one, but WIDI is a German language podcast (by Igor and a different Johannes) about technology that adds a unique perspective and a more systemic approach to the mix. If they manage to keep it niche, this will be a must listen for a German language audience.

I’m swapping out Lage der Nation whose popularity has led them to lose focus and believe in their own hype for FAZ Einspruch.

A well written defense by Markthalle IX in Berlin that sounds good but still paints a much more rosy picture of reality than is justified. Let’s be totally clear: removing the ALDI will advance the area’s socio-economic cleansing.

An article about micromobility has finally reached German media, now let’s just wait for these devices to become street legal here.

The tactics employed during the Blitzkrieg are those of highly agile manoeuvre warfare. They are:

I want to coin a German translation for the dirtbag left neologism failson. I propose Scheitersohn which I think has a nice ring to it.

I thought I had come up with the clever portmanteau “komplischwierig”, a combination of “kompliziert”(complicated) and “schwierig”(difficult). Unfortunately a quick Google search showed eight prior results where people have used the word.

A story I meant to write up for a while is my discovery of the German rap formation K.I.Z. (Kapitalismus ist Zauberhaft) and with that German pop culture that is actually worthwhile and fun.